Cryosurgery devices are used for removing skin lesions such as warts. These devices have traditionally utilized liquid nitrogen as a medium for cooling down the tissue of a skin lesion to a temperature necessary to destroy the tissue. However, since liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of −196° C. and is therefore difficult to handle and administer safely, cryosurgery devices employing a pressurized liquid refrigerant having a higher boiling point, e.g. −20° C. to −50° C., have recently been developed and are now available for over-the-counter consumer use.
These more recent cryosurgery devices typically employ an aerosol container, whose liquid refrigerant is directed through a conduit to a porous tip. The tip is then applied to the skin lesion for a prescribed period of time. However, the manner in which the refrigerant is transferred from the aerosol container to the tip may not sufficiently limit the loss of the refrigerant during such transfer and may not sufficiently prevent accidental release of the refrigerant.